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Pot Odds; I understand these now, but are they really relevant to tournament games rather than money games? The reason I ask is because every tournie restarts with 2000 chips for example. So even if you work out the pot odds and the chances of winning, because tournies are short-term it doesnt really work. Surely you need the long term cash game which you can go back to with exactly the same money the next day to allow the probabilities to even out and start making money?

Any sort of response would be very gratefully received!!

Pete Brooks
UK

Answer:

Hi Pete,

I am really glad to hear that you like our site. That's a very important and interesting question you are raising. Cash games is often said to be a "purer" form of poker than tournaments. The reason for this is that your calculated odds in a given situation will directly influence your long term results (as you pointed out).

Pot odds are not as important in tournaments. Even if you see your tournaments as long term and add the results together you have to account for the fact that if you loose all your chips you are gone.

Let me give you an example: In a cash game it is ALWAYS correct to go all-in when you get the right pot odds - but in a tournament it depends. Say you in third place in a tournament, nine places are paid and there are 11 players left. The chip leader goes all-in on the flop, you have a nut flush draw with two over cards and get really good pot odds on your call. Would you call? Maybe, but the pot odds are not the most important factor here. Even if you can win the hand by hitting one of your over cards or the flush, you still have about a 50 % chance getting knocked out of the tournament.

So in this situation you have to consider what's worth most for you, having the chance to at least double your stack or be sure to stay in the tournament and have a really good chance to place in the money. If you double your stack you are in great shape to place really high in the tournament, but you also risk getting knocked out. If it is more important for you to be sure to finish in the money you should probably fold.

Pot odds are definitely a factor to consider in tournaments, but they are of much less importance than in cash games.

Good luck at the table!
Regards, Clark Jensen
Learn Texas Holdem

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